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CNN Live Saturday

Warhol Exhibit in Moscow

Aired July 07, 2001 - 13:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Andy Warhol remains one of the most vibrant figures in modern art. Of course whether his art is garbage or genius is in the eye of the beholder. Well, now Russians are getting a chance to make up their own minds about his place in art history. CNN's Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Half a century after he rocked the Western world with his pop art, Andy Warhol is shaking up Russia. Fifty-five paintings, a major retrospective, "Andy Warhol, His Art and Life," sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The works are from the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. For Russian like Tatyana, this is the first up-close look they've had at the artist who blurred the boundary between fine art and popular culture.

TATYANA GURIEVA, EXHIBIT VISITOR (through translator): They used to show paintings like this as an example of how not to paint.

DOUGHERTY: Some of Warhol's best know creations are on display, from Campbell's soup cans to a portrait of Mao, deceptively simple for some.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just sharing with her that I could do the same, just take a picture of my friends and just put colors on that.

DOUGHERTY: For others, a deeper view of what makes American culture tick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's very American art. Warhol is a very strong artist -- very strong. The development of advertising had a major impact on him. Here in Russia, we didn't have that.

DOUGHERTY: Andy Warhol was getting more than his legendary 15 minutes of fame. The exhibit has been on the move for a year and a half, traveling throughout the former Soviet block. In the next six months it will visit Turkey, Croatia, and Slovenia. In Moscow it was shown at the bastion of high culture, the Pushkin State Museum of Art. Something that would have made one of America's most revolutionary artists proud.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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